F 



AN ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE 



IE)' 
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY. | 



BY DANIEL P, THOMPSON. 



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SMITHSONIAN DKI'OSIT 



8p3S 

AN 

ADDRESS "^^^ 

PRONOUNCED IN THE 

REPRESENTATIVES' HALL, MONTPELIER, 

24th OCTOBER, 1850, 

BEFORE THE 

VERMOIT HISTOEICAL SOCIETY, 

IN THE PRESENCE OF 

BOTH HOUSES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ; 



DANIEL P. THOMPSON. 



Fublitjhed by Order of the Legislature 'v^ 



S BURLINGTON: 

I REK PRESS OFFICE PRINT 

1850. . 



Office of the Secretary of the Senate, 
Montpelier, Vt, Oct. 29, 1850. 

Hon. Daniel P. Thompson', Montpelier. 

Sir : We have the pleasure to communicate to you the following 
resolution, adopted on the 25th inst : — 

" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives : 

" That the Secretary of the Senate, and the Clerk of the House of 
"Representatives be instructed to solicit from the Hon. Daniel P. Thonip- 
" son a copy of the interesting and valuable Address pronounced by him 
"before the Vermont Historical Society, in presence of the two Houses, 
" on the evening of tlie 24th inst., and that the Secretary and Clerk procure 
"two thousand copies tliereof to be printed, and distributed under tlie di- 
"rection of His Excellency, the Governor." 

We take occasion to express the hope that you will comply with the 
unanimous desire of the two Houses, in which the entire audience, on the 
occasion alluded to, participated. 

Very respectfully. Your ob't serv'ts, 

D. W. C. CLARKE, Secretary of the Senate, 
C. F. DAVEY, of the House of Representatives. 



Montpelier, Vt., 30th October, 1850. 

Gentlemen: 

It was not my intention to publish the Address, of Avhich the two 
Houses have taken such flattering notice, as I thought of embodying it, 
with further amplifications of the subject, in a work I have in preparation 
for tlie press. But perceiving no valid objections to its publication in this 
fonn, though it may soon substantially appear in another, and being anx- 
ious to make every consistent response to a demonstration, of which I fear 
neither myself, nor my imperfect effort, is worthy, I can do no less than 
comply with your request, and that which seems involved in the resolution, 
a copy of which you have forwarded to me. I, therefore, place the manu- 
script at your disposal, and, with the assurance of my personal regard, re- 
main 

Your friend and ob't serv't, 

D. P. THOMPSON. 
To Gen. D. W. C. Clarke, Secretary of the Senate, 

Chalon F. Davet, Esq., Clerk of the House of Representatives. 



ADDRESS. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate and 
House of Representatives : 

Vermont was ushered into political existence midst storm and 
tempest. We speak both metaphorically and literally : For it 
is a curious historical fact that her Constitution, the result of the 
first regular movement ever made hy her people towards an inde- 
pendent civil government, was adopted during the darkest period 
of the Revolution — at an hour of commotion and alarm, when the 
tempest of war was actually bursting over her borders and threat- 
ening her entire subversion. And, as if to make the event the 
more remarkable, the adoption took place amidst one of the most 
memorable thunder storms ever known m Vermont, but for the 
providential occurrence of which, at that particular juncture, that 
important poHtical measure, as we shall soon make apparent, must 
have been postponed to an indefinite period, and what is more, to 
a period when the growing dissensions, which, as soon as the 
common danger was over. New York and New Hampshire con- 
trived to scatter among her people, must have defeated it, and 
thus destroyed all their prospects of the blessings of an indepen- 
dent civil government forever. 

The whole history of the settlement and organization of this 
State, indeed, exhibits, when compared with those of another, 
the most striking anomaly. She may emphatically be called the 
offspring of war and controversy. The long and fierce dispute 
for territory between the colonies just named, had sown her soil 
with Dragon teeth, which at length sprang up in a crop of hardy, 
determined, and liberty-loving men, who instead of joining either 
of the contending parties, soon resolved to take a stand for them- 



a MK. THOMPSON S ADDRESS. 

selves against both. And that stand they maintained with a spirit 
;ind success, to which, considering the discouragements, difficul- 
ties and dangers they were constantly compelled to encounter, 
history scarcely furnishes a parallel. But though every step of 
her progress, from the felling of the first tree in her dark wilder- 
ness to her final reception into the sisterhood of the States, W'as 
marked by the severest trials, yet the memorable year of '77, was 
incomparably the most trying and gloomy as well as the most glo- 
rious of her history. Within a period of forty days, indeed, from 
the first landing of the vauntful Burgoyne on her shores at Ticon- 
deroga, on the Gth of July, to the 16ih of August, when his Lion 
Flag was seen trailing in the dust at Bennington, her whole desti- 
nies seemed crowded ; but it was in those very days of darkness 
and dismay, that she settled them all, and ensured her indepen- 
dence forever ! 

Conceiving this eventfid period, therefore, to be the turning 
point in the destinies of Vermont, as a separate State, we shall 
confine our remarks to this important part of her history, and 
endeavor to mifold the secret and hitherto little known, but, in 
our estimation, the main springs of action, by which such momen- 
tous results were accomplished. 

In the beginning of this memorable year the people of Vermont 
by their delegates in formal Convention assembled had declared 
themselves Independent, 

" Independent of all save the mercies of God," 
to use the significant language which the poet has put into the mouth 
of one of their numbers. And having taken measures for pub- 
lishing their declaration to the world, this Convention closed its 
proceedings by appointing a committee to draft a Constitution to 
be submitted to a new Convention which the people w^ere invited 
to call for the purpose. In response to that call, a new Conven- 
tion assembled at Windsor about the first of July following, and 
proceeded, with that dilligence and scrupulous regard to the em- 
ployment of their time, for which our earlier public bodies were 



MU. THOMf&OiN S AUDKEb^). 7 

noted, to take into consideralion the important iii.>irunieiil now 
submitted to them as a proper basis, on wliicli to erect the super- 
structure of a civil government suited to the genius and necessi- 
ties of an industrious an frugal people — a people who, though 
keenly jealous of their individual rights, and exceedingly restive 
under all foreign authority, had yet declared the wisli to receive 
and obey a system of legal restraints, if il could be one of their 
own imposing — a people who had said to their leaders : 

■'Tho' we owe no alleo-iance and bow to no tlirone, 
We will yield to tlie law it' that law be our own." 

For five days, from rising to setting sun, this Convention em- 
ployed the best energies of their enlightened and practical minds 
in discussing and amending the document before them. But 
their labors had well nigh been lost, for the present certainly, and, 
for reasons before given, probably forever. For soon after they 
had assembled on the Gth day of their Session, and while they 
were mtently listening to the reading of the instrument for the 
last time before taking a final vote on its adoption, their proceed- 
ings were suddenly brought to a stand by the alarming news, loud- 
ly proclaimed from an open despatch from the gallant Warner 
by a herald who appeared on his foam covered horse before their 
open door, that Ticonderoga, the supposed inpregnable barrier 
of frontier defence, had fallen, and our scattered troops were 
flymg in all directions before a formidable British army that was 
sweeping unopposed along the western border of the State, flank- 
ed by a horde of merciless savages, from whose fearful irruptions 
not a dwelling on that side the mountains would probably be 
spared ! Tliis inteUigence, so unexpected and so ^artllng, too 
nearly concerned the members of this body as men as well as 
patriots, to permit their entire exemption from the general feeling 
of consternation and dismay which was everywhere spreading, on 
the wings of the wind, around them ; and many a staid heai't 
among them secretly trembled for the fate of the near and dear 
ones left at home, in which the red tojiiahawk might, even at that 



8 MR. Thompson's address. 

monienl be busy at its work of death ; while the bosoms of all 
were burning to seize the sword or musket and fly to their re- 
lief or mingle in the common defence of their endangered coun- 
try. Any further proceedings with the subject on hand, at such 
a moment was soon found to be impossible, and the greater num- 
ber began to clamor for an immediate adjournment. But wdiile 
a few, who had shared less than others in the panic, or were more 
deeply impressed with the importance of accomplishing an object, 
at this time, now so nearly attained, were vainly attempting to 
resist the current, till time was gained for reflection, an un- 
wonted darkness, as if by sjiecial interposition of Providence, fell 
suddenly upon the earth. The lightnings began to gleam through 
the dark and threatening masses of clouds that had enveloped the 
sky, and the long, deep roll of thunder was heard in every quarter 
of the heavens, giving w^arning of the severe and protracted tem- 
pest, which now soon burst over them with a fury that precluded 
all thought of venturing abroad. The prospect of being thus 
confined to the place for some hours, if not for the whole day, 
taking from the movers all inducement for immediate adjourn- 
ment, they now began to take a cooler view of the subject ; and 
soon, by common consent, the business on hand was resumed. 
The reading of the Constitution was finished, and, while the storm 
was still howhng around them, and the thunders breaking over 
their heads, that instrument was adopted and became the supreme 
law of the land.* One thing more, however, remained to be 
done ; and that was to constitute a provisional government to act 
till the one pointed out by the Constitution could be established. 
This was now effected by the appointment of that small body of 
men, 13 in number, it is believed, since known as The Old 
Council of Safety of Vermont, and noted alike for the re- 
markable powers with which they were invested, and the remark- 
able manner in which those powers were exercised : For from the 

*T]iis Constitution was never submitted to Uic people fo rratification, but 
by general consent acquiesced in without that usual formality. 



MR. Thompson's address. 9 

nature of the case, and the emergency in which these men were 
called to act, thay wers almost nassiijarily invested with the ex- 
traordinary combination of legislation. Judicial and Executive 
power. But this power, absolute and dictatorial as it was, they 
never abused, nor exercised but for die public good, and in this 
they were cheei'fully sustained by the people, who felt that they 
were thus not only sustaining the cause of Freedom, but the 
laws which were of their own providing, and which they were 
now anxious should be strictly obeyed.* 

To that unique assembly, whose origin we have just described, 
we now propose to introduce our auditors at its most interesting 
and important session. In obedience to the order of the Con- 
vention, they had promptly assembled at Manchester, and here, 
conscious that the eyes of all were turned anxiously upon them 
in expectation that they would provide for the safety of their in- 
fant State, whose now fearfully menaced destinies had been 
committed into their hands, they commenced the worse than 
Egyptian task devolving on them — that of making adequate pro- 
visions for the public defence, while the means were almost 
wholly wanting. For with scarcely the visible means in the 
whole settlement, in its then exhausted and unsettled condition, 
of raising and supporting a single company of soldiers, they were 
expected to raise an army ; \Aithout the shadow of a public 
Treasury, and without any credit as a State, and without the 
power of taxing the people, which, by the Constitution just adopt- 
ed, could only be done by a legislature not yet called, they were 
required to do that for which half a million was needed. Such 
were the difficulties by which they were met at the cutset — diffi- 
culties, which, to men of ordinary stamina and mental resources, 
would have been insurmountable. But the members of the Old 



*The council of safety continued to exercise all these powers till March 
1778, when it was superceded by the legislature, then first convening-, in 
all its civil functions, while those relating to war were transferred to a nev 
body appointed by the lerrislature, called the Board of Wnr. 

-) 



10 MR. THOMPSOIS'S ADDRESS. 

Council of Safety were not men of ordinary stamina, either moral or 
mental, and the results of their action amid all these difficulties and 
discouragements were soon to evince it to the world. The partic- 
ular time however, we have chosen for lifting the curtain from 
their secret proceedings, was at the darkest, and most dishearten- 
ing hour they were doomed to experience, and before their united 
mind had been brought to bear on any measure alibrding the least 
promise of auspicious results. The army of Burgoyne was 
then hovering on their borders in its most menacing attitude. 
Marauding parties were daily penetrating the interior, plunder- 
ing and capturing the defenceless inhabitants ; while each day 
brought the unwelcome news of the defection of individuals who 
had gone ofi' to swell the ranks of the victorious enemy, to whose 
alarming progress scarcely a show of resistance had yet been in- 
terposed. Nor was this the end of the chapter of the trials that 
awaited them. Another blow was to be added, more calculated 
than all to test their firmness and bring home to their bosoms a 
sense of the perils of the crisis, and the necessity of prompt ac- 
tion, unless they should conclude to give up and yield unresis- 
tingly to the current of destiny that seemed to be setting so 
strongly against them. But let us now present the mortifying 
event to which we have just alluded in another form, together 
with the action that followed, and personal descriptions of the 
actors, gathered from the writings left by one of their number,* 
from the lips of old men now passed away, and especially of one 
whom this year has numbered with the dead and who, then an 
observant boy, f was permitted to be an eye and ear witness of all 
that occurred in the debate which we will try to bring up as a 
living and truthful picture directly to the senses : — 

The long summer day was drawing to a close. Tt had been 
thus far spent by the Council, as had been several of the pre- 
ceding, in discussing the ways and means for doing somctliing 

*Ira Allen — see appendix. 
fDanie] Chipman. 



MR. Thompson's address. 11 

to avert the doom that hung over their seemingly devoted State. 
But up to this hour their dehberations had been \vholly fruitless. 
Project after project for raising military forces had been brought 
forward, discussed and abandoned, as impracticable, till wearied 
with the unavailing labors, and disheartened by the dismal pros- 
pect before ihcm, they v>'ere about to give up business for tho 
day when the door-keeper, with unwonted haste and an agitated 
manner, entered the room, and announced to the astonished 
members the alarming tidings that one of their own number, and 
till that day an active participator in their discussions, had proved 
a Judas, and was now, with a band of his recreant neighbors, on 
his way to the British camp ! This news fell like a thunder-clap 
on the Council, producing at first a sensation not often witnessed 
in so grave an assemblage. But no formal comments were offer- 
ed, and, after the commotion had subsided, all sank into a thought- 
ful silence, which we will improve by personal introductions of 
all the leading members of this body, whom we are now^ to sup- 
pose sitting before us digesting the tidings just announced. 

Separated from the rest by a sort of enclosure composed of 
tables strung across one end of the apartment, which was the large 
upper room of the old tavern in jManchester, and which had been 
hastily fitted up for the occasion, sat the President of the Coim- 
cil — the venerable Thomas Chittenden, the wise, the prudent 
and the good, who was to Vermont what Washington was to the 
whole country, and vrho, though possessing no dazzling greatness, 
had yet that rare combination of moral and intellectual qualities 
which was far better — good sense, great discretion, honesty of 
purpose, and an unvarying equanimity of temper, united with a 
modest and pleasing address. And by the long and continued 
exercise of this golden mean of qualities, he was destined to 
leave behind him, an honest and enduring fame — a memorial of 
good deeds and useful every-day examples to be remembered 
and quoted both in the domestic circle and public assembly, 
when the superior brilliancy of many a cotemporary had passed 



Iti MR. Thompson's address. 

away and been forgotten. He was now over fifty, but so fine 
his physical endowments, and so good his habits, that time had left 
scarcely a trace on his manly brow ; and notwithstanding the 
simplicity of his deportment and the plainness of his dress, the 
large arm chair in which he was reclining, furnished by some con- 
siderate matron of the neighborhood, could not have found, in 
the broad land, an occupant who Vvoiild have filled it with more 
native dignity, or one better fitted to restrain by courteous firm- 
ness, and by tact guide into safe and appropriate fields of action, 
the less diciplined and more fiery spirits of tlie body over whom 
he presided. 

On the left of the President, on one of the plain benches that 
ran along the walls in front, immersed in thought, sat side by side, 
like brothers as they were, the two Fays — those intelligent and 
persevering friends of freedom and State independence. Fur- 
ther along sat the two Robinsons, alike patriotic and active or 
able, according to the different spheres in Avhich they were about 
to be distinguished — one in the tented field, and the other on the 
Bench, and in the Councils of the Nation. Next to them was seen 
the short, burly form of the uncompromising I>iatthew Lyon", 
the Irish refugee, who was willing to be sold, as he was, to pay his 
passage, for a pair of two-year-old bulls, by \\hich he was wont 
to swear on all extra occasions — thus sold for the sake of getting 
out of the king-tainted atmosphere of the old world, into one 
where his broad chest could expand freely, and his bold, free 
spirit soar untrammeled by the clogs of legitimacy. In his eagle 
eye, and every hneament of his clear, ardent and fearless coun- 
tenance, might be read the promise of what he v, as to become — 
the stern Democrat, and imflinching champion of the whole right 
and the largest liberty. 

In contrast to him, on the opposite side, was seen the tall form, 
and the firm and thoughtful countenance of Benjamin Carpen- 
ter, who, by his line of marked trees through a 30-milc reach of 
woods, had just arrived on foot with pack and cane, from his 
residence in Guilford, on the other side of the mountains. 



MR. Thompson's addrp.ss. 1.3 

Next sat the mild and gentlemanly Nathan Clark, the future 
Speaker of the Legislature ; and by his side the dark, rough fea- 
tured Gideon Olin, another embryo member of Congress, knit- 
ting his brows in an expression of mingled sternness and gloom. 

Beyond these, leaning out of an open window, was Thomas 
RowLEV, the first Poet of the Green Mountains. He was here 
because he was a public favorite, a trusty patriot, and some- 
thing of a statesman. But like other poets he had his pecuUar tem- 
perament, as might be seen even in this staid assembly. For, as 
if disgusted with a profitless debate, and determined not to be 
troubled by the disconcerting news just announced, he had turned 
to the more congenial employment of gazing out on the land- 
scape, over which his kindling eye might have been seen to 
wander, till it rested in rapture on the broad empurpled side and 
bright summit of the lofty Equinox mountain, whose contrasted 
magnificence was growing every moment more striking and beau- 
tiful in the beams of the setting sun. 

At an end of one of the tables before the President, was also 
seen the stout frame and business like countenance of Paul 
Spooler, engaged in writing a despatch. And as the last, though 
not as the least of this contrasted assemblage, let us turn to the 
youthful Secretary of the Council, Ira Allen. So much the 
junior of his colleagues was he, that a spectator might well won- 
der why he was selected as one of such a sage body. But those 
who procured his appointment knew full well why they had done 
so ; and his history thenceforward was destined to prove a con- 
tinued justification of their opinion. Both in form and feature, 
he was one of the handsomest men of his day ; while a mind, at 
once versatile, clear and penetrating, with perceptions as quick as 
light, was stamped on his Grecian brow, or found a livelier expres- 
sion in his flashing black eyes and other lineaments of his intellec- 
tual countenance. Such, as he appeared for the first time on 
the stage of public action, was the afterwards noted Ira Allen, 
whose true history, when written, will show him to have been 



14 MR. Thompson's address. 

either secretly or openly the originator or successful prosecutor 
of more important political measures, atiecting the interests and 
independence of the State, and the issue of the war in the North- 
ern department, than any other individual in Vermont ; making 
him, with the many peculiar traits he possessed, one of the most 
remarkable men of the times in v/hich he so conspicuously fig- 
ured. 

" I have finished," said Spooner, breaking the gloomy silence 
which had so long pervaded the assembly, — " I have finished 
the despatch, 3Ir. President, requiring the attendance of Gen. 
Bailey, the absent member from Newbury, and I have ventured 
to add the news of the defection of that miserable Squire Spen- 
cer !"* 

" Tis all well," responded the President ; " but I had hoped 
to have forvrarded by the same messenger, a despatch requesting 
the aid of New Hampshire. But how can we expect they will 
do anything till we do something for ourselves — till they know 
whether they will find among us more friends to feed and assist, 
than enemies to impede them. And I submit to you, gentle- 
men, whether it is not now high time to act to some purpose. 
If we can't vote taxes, we can contribute towards raising a mihtary 
force if you will agree to raise one. Instead of being dishearten- 
ed by the conduct of the traitor Spencer, who has perhaps prov- 
identially left us before we had settled on any plan of operations 
which he could report to the enemy, let us show him, and the 
world, that the rest of us can be men ! I have ten head of cattle 
which, by way of example, I will give for the emergency. But 
am I more patriotic than the rest of you here, and hundreds of 
others in the settlement ? My wife has a valuable gold necklace ; 
hint to her to-day that it is needed, and my word for it, to-mor- 
row will find it in the treasury of freedom. But is my wife 
more spirited than yours and others ? Gentlemen, I v.ait your 
propositions." 



•See Appendix. 



MR. Thompson's address. 15 

During this efteclive appeal, drooping heads began to be rais- 
ed — perplexed countenances began to brighten, and by the time 
he had closed, several speakers were on their feet eager to res- 
pond. 

" Mr. CarjDenter has the floor, gentlemen," said the Pres- 
ident, evidently vri.^hing that discreet and firm man shoulJ lead 
off as a sort of guide to the warm emotions he saw rising. 

"I rose," said Carpenter, "to give my hearty response to 
thesentiments of the Chair. It is time, high time to act. I 
have no definite proposition now to offer ; but within one hour, I 
will have one, if others are not before me in the matter. For it 
is a crime to dally any longer, and from this moment action shall 
be my motto." 

" Aye, action ! action ! responded several. 

" Action let it be, then," said the impulsive Rowley, the next 
to speak ; " and I will make a proposition, that will give gentle- 
men all the action they v.ill want, besides selling an example 
which will show icorJcs as v\-ell as faith — I propose, IMr. Presi- 
dent, that each one of us here, before any more of us run away 
to the enemy, seize a standard, — repair singly to the different 
hamlets among our mountains — cause the summoning drum to 
be beat for volunteers, whom we w^ill ourselves lead to do battle 
with this Jupiter Olympus of a British General, who has so 
nearly annihilated us by force of Proclamation !" 

" Tom Rowley all over ! but a gallant push nevertheless," 
exclaimed Samuel Robinson in an under tone, " and yet Mr. 
President," he continued rising, " if our spirited colleague's pro- 
posal should be carried into effect, we should still want a regularl}' 
enlisted force to serve as a nucleus to volunteers, especially under 
such officers as most of us would make. I therefore move we 
vote to raise a company of an hundred men, which will be as many 
as all the contributions we can obtain among our poor and dis- 
tressed people, will equip and support very long in the field." 



16 MR. Thompson's address. 

" And I," said Clark, "believing we may venture to go a 
little higher than that, propose to raise two companies of sixty 
each." 

"No, no," cried several voices. "One company — means 
can be found for no more." 

" Yes, yes, the larger number — I go for two companies," 
cried others. 

" And I go for neither, Mr. President," said Ira Allen, dash- 
ing down his pen upon the table, by the side of which he had 
been sitting in deep cogitation. " 1 have heard all the propo- 
sitions yet advanced — see the difficulties of all, and yet I see a 
way by which we can do something more worthy the character 
of the Green Mountain Boys — and that too without infringing 
the Constitution or distressing the people. I therefore move, 
Sir, that this Council resolve to raise a whole regiment of men 
appoint their officers, and take such prompt measures for their 
enlistment, that within one week every glen in our mountains 
shall resound with the din of military preparations." 

" Chimerical !" said one who, in common with the rest of the 
Council, seemed to hear with much surprise a proposition of such 
magnitude so confidently put forth, when the general doubt ap- 
peared to be whether even the comparatively trifling one of 
Clark should be adopted. 

"Impossible — utterly impossible to raise pay for half of them,'* 
exclaimed others. 

" Don't let us say that, till compelled to," said Carpenter in 
an encouraging tone. "Though I don't now see where the means 
are to come from, yet new light may break in on us by another 
day, so that we can see our way clear to sustain this proposition. 
If there should, we should feel like men again." 

" Amen to all that,'' responded Clark, " and as the hour of 
adjournment has arrived, I move that our young colleague who 
seems so confident in the matter of means, be a committee of 
one, to devise those ways and means to pay the bounties and 



MR. Thompson's address. 17 

wages of the regiment he proposes, and that he make liis report 
tliereof by sunrise to-morrow morning." 

" I second that motion, so plase ye, Mr. President," cried 
Lyon in his usual full determined tone and Irish accent — " I go 
for Mr. Allen's proposition entirely, manes or no manes. But 
the manes must and shall be found. We will put the brave 
gentleman's brains under tlie screw to-night," he added jocose- 
ly, " and if he appears empty handed in the morning, he ought 
to be expelled from the Council. Aye, and I'll move it too, by 
the two bulls that redamed me !" 

"I accept the terms!" said Allen — "give me a room by 
myself, pen, ink, paper and candles, and I will abide the condi- 
tion." 

" For your light, Mr. Allen, as your task is to find money 
where there is none to any common view, I would advise you to 
borrow the wonderful lamp of Aladdin," gaily added Rowley, as 
the Council broke up and separated for the night. 

At sunrise the next morning all the Council were in their seats 
to receive the promised report. They weve aware that Allen 
had spent the whole night on the business committed to his 
charge ; for, horn* after hour during that important night, tliey had 
heard tlie alternate scratching of his rapid pen, and the sound of 
his footsteps as he paced his solitary chamber, intensely revolving 
in his teeming mind the details of a plan, on the success of v/hich 
with the Council he felt the last chance of making a stand against 
the invaders of the State must depend. This circumstance, to- 
gether with the expectation which his confident manner, and 
known fertility in expedients had previously created, that he 
would present some feasible plan for carrying out his proposal, 
though no one could conjecture its character, now caused his ap- 
pearance to be awaited with no little curiosity and solicitude. — 
They were not long kept in suspense. Allen, with his papers 
in hand, came iu, and after amiouncing his readiness to report, 
calmly proceeded to unfold his plan, which was nodiing more nor 



18 MR. Thompson's address. 

less than the bold and undreamed-of step of confiscating, seizing 
and, on the shortest legal notice, selling at the post, the estate 
of every Tory in Vermont, for the pubhc service ! 

The speaker having read his report, consisting of a decree of 
confiscation, drawn up ready for adoption by the Council, and a 
list of candidates or nominations of officers for a regiment of Ran- 
gers, he quickly resumed his seat and patiently awaited the ac- 
tion of the Council. But they were taken by such complete 
surprise by a proposition, at that time so new in the colonies, so 
bold and so startling in its character, that, for many minutes, not 
a word or whisper was heard tlu-ough the hushed assembly, whose 
bowed heads and Avorking countenances showed how intensely 
their minds were engaged in trying to grapple with the subject 
matter on which their action was so unexpectedly required. 

Soon, however, low murmurs of doubt or disapproval be- 
gan to be heard, and the expressions — Unprecedented step! 
Doubtful policy I Injury to the cause ! became distinguishable 
among the more timid in different parts of the room, when the 
prompt and fearless Matthew Lyon, whose pecuhar traits of in- 
tellect had made him the first to meet and master the proposition, 
which jumped so well with his feehngs, and whose consequent 
resolve to support it was only strengthened by the tokens of 
rising opposition he perceived around liim, now sprang to his 
feet, and, bringing his broad palms together wdth a loud slap, ex- 
ultingly exclaimed : " The child is born, Mr. President ! My 
head," he continued, "has been in a continual fog, ever since 
we met, till the present moment. But now, thank God, I can 
see my way out of it, — I can now see at a glance how all we 
want, can be readily — aye, and righteously, accompUshed ! I 
can already see a regiment of our brave momitaineers in arms be- 
fore me, as the certain fruits of this bold, bright thought of our 
young friend here. 

" Unprecedented step is it ? It may be so with us timid Re- 
publicans ', but is it so with our enemies, who are this moment 



MR. Thompson's address. 19 

tiireatenins; to crush us, because we object to receive their law 
and precedent ? How, in Heaven's name, were they to obtain 
the lands of half Vermont, wliich they offered the lion-hearted 
Ethan Allen if he would join them, but by confiscating^ our es- 
tates ? What became of the estates of those in their country, 
who, like ourselves, rebelled against their government .'' Why, 
sir, they were confiscated ! Can they complain, then, if we 
adopt a measure, which, in case we are vanquished, they will 
visit on our estates, to say nothing of our necks .'' And can these 
recreant rascals themselves, who have left their property among 
ws, and gone off to help fasten the very law and precedent on us, 
complain at our doing what they will be the first to recommend 
to be done to us, if their side prevails .'' Where, then, Is the 
doubtful policy of our anticipating them in the measure, any more 
than seizing one of their loaded guns in battle and turning it 
against them ? 

Injury to the cause, will it be ? Will It Injure our cause 
here, where men are dally deserting to the British, in the be- 
lief that we shall not dare touch their property, to strike a blow 
tJiat will deter all the wavering, and most others of any property, 
from leaving us hereafter .'' Will it injure our cause here, to 
have a regiment of regular troops, who will draw into the field four 
times their numbers of volunteers .'' If that be an injury, iNIr. 
President, I only wish we had more of them ! With half a dozen 
such injuries, we would rout Burgoyne's whole army In a fort- 
night. I go, then, for the proposition to the death, jMr. President, 
Yes, by the two Bulls that redamed me, I will go It !" 

The ice was broken. This bold dash of rough, argumentative 
eloquence, so adroith^ addressed to men of such mould, had 
reached cords that rose responsive to the touch, and gave a direc- 
tion to the naturally favoring current of their feelings, which was 
not to be diverted. The more ready and fearless, one after 
.another, now stepped forward, removed obstructions, and gave 
giddltional force to the gnthering impetus. The President, on 



20 MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS. 

whom all eyes were turned, was seen nodding his approbation in 
spite of all his prudence. The timid rapidly gained strength, the 
doubters at length yielded, and, within two hours, this all impor- 
tant measure, which, in the eventful period of forty days, named 
at the outset, became the pivot on which the destinies of Ver- 
mont were turned, was unanimously adopted. The results were 
soon apparent. Doubt and despondency gave place to confi- 
dence and courage. Commissioners, and other officers, were ap- 
pointed and dispatched in every direction to seize the marked 
estates, and the whole enginery of sequestration w^as at once put 
in motion. The work of enlistment under the ardent and active 
Herrick and his subordinates, the military appointees of the 
Council, w'as commenced ; and within one week every village 
and hamlet in the Green ^lountains were resounding with the roll 
of the recruiting drum, and the clang of war-like preparation. — 
With such energy and success, indeed, were these operations 
pushed forward, that within the astonishingly short period of fifteen 
days, a respectably filled regiment was collected and ready to 
take the field. All this had led to a confident and successful 
appeal to New Hampshire, for aid and cooperation. Stark 
came. The battle of Bennington was fought and won ; and the 
shout of victory, that went up from the banks of the Waloomsic, 
was a virtual proclamation of the Independence of Vermont. — 
For, her gallantry here, and her controlling hand in getting up an 
expedition, resulting so disastrously to Burgoyne — so auspicious- 
ly to the country, gave her a right to command a boon, which 
she otherwise would have sued for in vain ; — a boon w'hich she 
did thus command, thus receive, — and thus ensure for herself her 
subsequent proud and happy destiny. 



APPENDIX. 



Extracts from Ira Allen's history of Vermont, and his address to the 
Legislature, in relation to a cargo of military stores bought by him in 
Europe, for the militia of Vermont, and seized by the Britisli ; — published 
in 1808, no^v nearly out of print : 

"The members of the Convention repaired to Windsor, July 4th, 1777. 
A draft of the Constitution was laid before them and read. The businesa 
being new, and of great consequence, required serious deliberation. The 
Convention had it under consideration, when the news of the evacuation 
of Ticonderoga arrived, wliich alarmed them very much, as thereby tiie 
Frontiers were exposed to the inroads of the enemy. The family of the 
President of the Convention, as well as those of many other members, 
were exposed to the foe. In this awful crisis, some were for leaving pre- 
cipitately ; but a severe ihunder-storm came on, and during the rain, they 
had time to reflect ; while other members, less alarmed at the news, called 
the attention of tlie whole to finish the Constitution, which was then 
reading for the last time. The Constitution was read through ; the Con- 
vention proceeded to appoint a Council of Safety to conduct the business 
of the State, and adjourned without day." ***** 

"The members of the Council of Safety, appointed as aforesaid, agreed 
to meet and form at Manchester, where they repaired without loss of time. 
Col. Thomas Chittenden was elected President, and Mr, Ira Allen (then 
27 years old) Secretary to said Convention." * * * * 

" Tlie Council of Safety had no public money, nor had they any au- 
thority to lay taxes, or credit as a public body, to make or borrow money 
to answer the necessities of government. The government was in its 
infancy, and all expenses were supported at private expense. Tlie Coun- 
cil were generally men of small property, ye; in this situation, it became 
necessary to raise men for the defence of the Frontiers, Avith bounties and 
wages. Ways and means were to be found out; and the day was spent 
in debating on the subject. Nathan Clark, Esq., not convinced of the 
practicability of raisijig a regiment, moved in Council, that Mr. Ira Allen, 
(the youngest member of the Council ; who insisted on raising a regiment, 
while a large majority of the Council were for only two companies of GO 
men each) might be appointed a committee, to discover ways and means 
to raise, arm and support a regiment, and to make his report at sun-rise, 
on the morrow. The Council acciuiesced, and Mr. Allen took the matter 
into consideration, and spent the night alone in concerting plans ; and he 
reported the ways and means, viz., that the Council should appoint Com- 
missioners of sequestration, with authority to seize the goods and chattels 
of all persons who had, or should join the common enemy ; that all 
moveable property so seized should bo sold at public vendue, and the pro- 
ceeds paid to a treasurer, to be appointed by the Council, for the purpose 
of paying a bounty of 810, and one month's pay in advance ; that every 
man furnish his own arms, &c. 



22 APPENDIX. 

The Council appointed Commissioners of sequestration, Ira Allen Treas- 
urer, and the officers for a refjiment, (the nomination of which Mr. Allen 
had paid much attention to in the solitary hours of the night.) Samuel 
Herrick Avas appointed Colonel, and the men enlisted and sai 1 bounties 
paid in 15 days, out of the confiscated property of the enemies of the new 
k^tate. This was (supposed to be) the iirst instance of seizing and selling 
the property of the enemies of American Independence." 

"Abel Spencer, of Clarendon, who had been a stickler for New York, had 
been suddenly converted to an advocate for a new State, and so ingratiated 
himself, as a good whig, that he was elected a member of the Council of 
Safety. Mr. Allen declared he would not take a seat in the Council if 
Spencer did, and that he sh uld not be surprised if Spencer should go 
to Burgoyne's camp ; which he did, and died witJi the British soon after." 

An original letter written in Council by Spooner, in which h? alludes to 
Spencer's desertion, is still preserved in the collection of tha Historical 
Society. 

Though personal estate was only at first seized, probably to raise 
money for immediate necessities, yet the confiscation and sale of real es- 
tate was either put in train at the same time, cr soon after. 



Sa-" J^ 



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014 014 080 6 



